Top Stories

Red Bulls at Chicago Fire: Match Night

Red_bulls_logo2008_013_2

Good evening everybody. I’m coming to you from Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, where the New York Red Bulls will take on the Chicago Fire in a key Eastern Conference clash (8:30pm, FSC).

The match marks Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio’s first trip back to Toyota Park since leaving the Chicago Fire’s head coaching position last winter.

The Red Bulls come into the match on a six-match unbeaten streak and can catch the Fire in the East standings with a win. The Fire can open up its hold on the No. 3 spot in the standings while also keeping pressure on New England for second-place in the East with a win.

I will be providing live commentary throughout the night so make this your place to follow the match. Feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.

Enjoy the match (follow the commentary after the jump):

—————————–

FINAL- That’s all for now. Thanks for following along and please feel free to share your post-game thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy your night.

—————————–

FINAL– The Red Bulls will have to be disappointed with coming away with zero points in a match it probably felt at least a point was attainable.

—————————–

FINAL– Fire 1, Red Bulls 0. It was an even match but the Fire capitalized on a Red Bulls mistake, then did enough to preserve the victory.

—————————–

92nd minute -Final seconds. Chicago holding on.

—————————–

90th minute– Fire holding firm here. Great effort from the midfield today.

—————————–

89th minute– Not looking good for the Red Bulls. Just no creativity today.

—————————–

86th minute– How many shots has Richards passed up tonight?

Mapp nearly hits a sweet volley but it goes high.

—————————–

84th minute– I have to give credit to Diego Gutierrez today for playing pretty well. I thought he would have trouble today but he has held up well. The Fire back-line has been solid.

—————————–

82nd minute– Angel misses by INCHES. Best chance in a while for the Red Bulls.

—————————–

79th minute– Justin Mapp has come in for Mike Banner. For those of you who missed it, Mapp signed a new deal with the Fire that will keep him with the Fire for another four years.

—————————–

75th minute– Mike Banner gets free on the right but Conway closes him down and keeps the Red Bulls in the game.

—————————–

74th minute– There’s Hunter Freeman with yet another HORRENDOUS cross. I really don’t think he’s had a good cross since May. And on that note Danleigh Borman comes in for Freeman.

—————————–

69th minute– McBride BARELY misses with a good shot from close range.

Ubiparipovic just isn’t getting the job done in the middle but with Rojas and Magee out, Osorio doesn’t have anybody else.

—————————–

65th minute– Red Bulls look a bit lost in their attack. They could definitely use Jorge Rojas tonight. The Fire could use Blanco as well, but they have still found some chances.

—————————–

62nd minute– John Wolyniec is in for Pietravallo. Surprising move in my opinion. I thought Pietravallo had played well.

—————————–

60th minute– Prideaux wide right with a shot. If he picked his head up he serves McBride on a platter.

—————————–

58th minute– Pietravallo with a yellow card. Rather silly card spoils an otherwise solid performance by him tonight.

Rolfe comes close with a header.

—————————–

56th minute– Dangerous free kick for Van Den bergh.

—————————–

50th minute– Someone should tell Bakary Soumare that he can do something more with the ball besides boom long balls as hard as possible.

—————————–

47th minute– The Red Bulls fans are in the house. I just heard the first rendition of "We Love Ya!"

—————————–

46th minute– And we’re back.

—————————–

HALFTIME– So what does Chicago need to do better? Keeping possession would help. They are letting the Red Bulls get out on the break a bit too often. Settling things down and trying to knock it around can only help give the Fire defense a break, while also possibly giving them time to find another crack in the Red Bulls defense.

—————————–

HALFTIME– What do the Red Bulls need to do better? Jimenez needs to settle down because he’s a mess right now. The Red Bulls attack needs to be sharper in the final third. Pietravallo, Van Den Bergh and Richards have been sharp. Ubiparipovic disappeared a bit and needs to produce more. Osorio could slide Van Den Bergh into the middle and bring in Danleigh Borman.

—————————–

HALFTIME– The fire goes in up 1-0 in a game that has been even except for Jimenez’s blunder.

—————————–

40th minute– Red Bulls better be careful. Chicago looks good for a second before halftime. The Red Bulls look a bit flat now and Jimenez does NOT look comfortable out there.

—————————–

38th minute– Red Bulls give up their first goal in four matches. They hadn’t given up a goal in 380 minutes before King’s finish.

—————————–

36th minute- GOAL FIRE. Stephen King finishes after Diego Jimenez cleared the ball right to him in front of goal. Jimenez with a terrible play and the Jersey boy finishes it off.

—————————–

35th minute– Good stuff from Pietravallo today while Jimenez doesn’t look quite as comfortable at left back, at least not tonight.

—————————–

33rd minute– McBride comes VERY close with a shot. It looked like Conway got a hand on it but the ref said no.

—————————–

33rd minute– Conway easily handles a shot right at him.

—————————–

32nd minute– Cichero with a foul that gives the Fire a good free kick opportunity. Fortunately for the Red Bulls, Cuauhtemoc Blanco isn’t here.

—————————–

31st minute– Dane Richards and John Thorrington have had the energy tonight and both look capable of providing a goal today.

Fire corner.

—————————–

28th minute– I have to say that I’m kind of disappointed. We’re almost a third through the match and I have yet to hear a clear anti-Osorio chant. Maybe Fire fans are over it (not likely.)

—————————–

25th minute– Thorrington with another good run. He’s the best player on the field for Chicago.

—————————–

24th minute– Dane Richards misses wide. Red Bulls are starting to feel it and Chicago looks a bit off.

—————————–

23rd minute– Red Bulls starting to show more life in the attack as the Fire look to have cooled off after a fast start.

—————————–

19th minute- ANGEL Shot saved by Busch. What a great pass by Van Den Bergh but Busch gets a hand on it to get it to the bar.

—————————–

16th minute– Chicago with most of the early pressure, but the Red Bulls will be looking to withstand that like they did against D.C. last week.

—————————–

14th minute– You can expect Dane Richards to test Diego Gutierrez at left back. Richards’ speed is going to create problems for the veteran defender.

—————————–

13th minute– Thorrington causing some problems early.

—————————–

10th minute– Fire have had the better of the play early, though neither team has taken control yet.

—————————–

7th minute– For those of you wondering, I am watching this match live but have USA-Cuba running on ESPN360.com on my laptop with my earphones plugged into that. A bit of brain overload but it has to be done.

JIMENEZ clears a shot off the line with a header. WOW

—————————–

3rd minute– The match-ups early on are Cichero on McBride and Jimenez on Rolfe. The Van Den Bergh-Thorrington battle is also a good one to watch.

—————————–

1st minute– We are under way.

—————————–

PRE-GAME– Here is Chicago’s starting lineup:

———–McBride————Rolfe —————

Banner——–King——–Pause——–Thorrington

Gutierrez—–Conde—Soumare———Prideaux

——————–Busch——————————

—————————–

PRE-GAME– Juan Carlos Osorio was just introduced to the crowd and a chorus of boos rained down from the crowd, which is it at what looks like half capacity right now.

—————————–

PRE-GAME– We will also get to see Jimenez at left back for the first time since he joined the team. Jimenez has been used at center back and played well. He will have the task of slowing down John Thorrington.

—————————–

PRE-GAME– Juan Carlos Osorio is going with Hunter Freeman at right back tonight, a week after Freeman came on and played well in place of injured right back Chris Leitch. Osorio stated he was confident in Freeman’s ability to keep playing well despite the fact that he has already signed a pre-contract with Norwegian club IK Start and will join them this January.

—————————–

PRE-GAME– Mike Magee is out with a staph infection in his right arm. He is one of two startes from last week’s starting lineup not in the lineup tonight. Kevin Goldthwaite is out due to yellow card suspensions. Here is the Red Bulls lineup:

———————–Angel———————-

Van Den Bergh—–Ubiparipovic———Richards

———Stammler——-Juan Pietravallo—–

Jimenez—–Parke–Cichero———Freeman

——————–Conway———————–

Comments

  1. credit where credit is due, RB played well and didn’t capitalize on the chances they had–I think the Fire may have MAY have had 1 or 2 more solid opportunities during the run of play, but my initial projection of a 1-1- or 2-2 tie was possible. Although, as a Fire fan, I’ll happily admit I was wrong on this one. Again though, RB looked decent and had good movement and speed up the flanks–while the Fire did very well to absorb that pressure, the left flank for RB looked solid, and I’m sure they will make some noise as we head into the playoff strech.

    Reply
  2. @Aguinaga- The Fire were also missing 3 starters to Int’l duty- Pappa, Blanco and Segares. I will say NY looked much better than the last time we met.

    Reply
  3. We had two starters out tonite & played well enough to at least draw away from home vs a better team than the one that beat us 4-1 at home early in the season. We have improved in leaps & bounds. Our defense was our biggest weakness, now its our biggest strength (Jimenez gave them their goal, but he also saved one). We play with Rojas, acquire a forward that can hold his own, & we touch up our defensive positioning and communication, and we will finally put out the Fire come the last game of the season, & easily so iif Blanco and McBride start showing their age.

    Reply
  4. I thought Jimenez looked like crap tonight. The positioning by the defense all around was terrible on the goal.

    No creativity tonight – we all know who RB needed . . .

    Reply
  5. We were the more dangerous side. NJ gave up at the 70 min mark. We should have scored about 7 or 8 times in the last 20 min. NJ had no real threats other than the crossbar. McBride gives us something special up top. He does all the dirty work which leaves Rolfe to run around up top. The wingers need to get their head up and find the final pass to lead to some more goals that we need badly. Stephen King looked very good for a rookie tonight. I dont mind him stepping in for Blanco when he is gone. We had 3 starters out tonight and still won pretty easily.

    Reply
  6. Another real frustrating loss! After watching the game I still have not changed on my view all year. The defense played well except for the mistake.

    We need another forward and I have been saying this all along. I said in the beginning of the year that we all knew JOZY was leaving and we desperately need someone to play forward with JPA because especially when he is double teamed. I think it is the last real postion we must get. I like the defense and the midfield especially when Rojas is back. John Woly

    flat out sucks and cannot make any other team. Sinsa sucks as a foward and mike magee is way too slow with his bad knee so who does that leave. It is vital that if they make the playoffs someone else steps up JPA cannot do it alone especially when they play a top defensive team like Chicago.

    Despite the mistake Jimenez has been playing well and I really like him.

    Reply
  7. I should never have posted, the second I did the Red Bulls decided to travel back in time to a couple of months ago and lose all ability to pass, dribble, and cross.

    And even so Chicago needed an assist from Jimenez to get the goal, this is extremely frustrating. Again.

    Reply
  8. This is a shame. Red Bulls aren’t dominating but look like the better team. Chicago just has not been dangerous at all without Blanco.

    But of course in true Red Bulls fashion we had to spot them the goal that might beat us. Still 20 minutes left so I’m not throwing in the towel, but this would be a really stupid way to end an unbeaten streak.

    Reply
  9. I don’t know why Max bretos keeps saying that the red bulls are doing better this half, i think we are playing horrible and need someone to control the ball in the middle of the field. Maybe it’s just my opinion but it looks like were being dominated.

    Reply
  10. section 8 has been dealing with the front office due to some racist incidents which occurred a few games back. the group’s mind has been on that and hopefully soon resolving these issues, osorio has taken a back seat.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to kpugs Cancel reply